See what you make of this….The blueprint for the local(Greensboro) Pizza Hut Invitaional works really well, but Raleigh says that their HS OT Holiday Classic, is the best in state and now they say MaxPreps is rolling them out as ‘Top Ten’ in the nation….
See what you make of this and they do have a lot of teams and some real big names have come through there over the years, but how much money do the schools get to help out with their athletic programs??? It seems like the final call, or the final cut, ought to be how big is your cut? Again, we have a lot of happy schools leaving the Pizza Hut Invitational, after the final horn sounds each December…..
Give it a read and see what you think when you CLICK HERE…..Sure looks like Greensboro is doing more to help both the boys and girls, as opposed to what they are doing in Raleigh and for that matter in Charlotte too…….
When you break it all down, it looks like the real Green(money) stays in Greensboro……..Don’t know what all of the other guys are taking in/raking in, but their expenses have to be high in Raleigh, if they are constantly bringing in the big-name/out-of-town talent….
The only time the big-name/out-of-town talent really worked for us, was when they brought in LeBron James, for the MLK Day games back about 7-8 years ago….It worked real good, they must have had 15-16,000 fans out there on that Monday, but most of the profits went to out-of-town promoters, with the Scholastic Play-by-Play group…….
Time to read and see if we need to plant a seed, like that of which they are sowing down in the Triangle….Probably not, just a few tweaks and the Pizza Hut Tournament can keep on making a lot of the Guilford County HS Athletic Directors real happy……..We just need to decide, if we need to add a few more county teams to the mix……..Mix it all up and you have a real nice Pizza Hut Invitational Pizza/Tournament…….Sell it by the slice…..
The Pizza Hut Invitational is a good tournament but if HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL is about the players then the OT Holiday Classic is WINNING. The simplist way to figure out which tournament is the best is the number of scouts in attendence at the event. To be totally honest and upfront if you take a look at the Pizza Hut tournament in actually the money that comes back to the schools is not what they portray it to be. Dont let people pull the covering down over your eyes. All in all the Pizza Hut is a good tournament but it cant be compared to the OT Holiday Tourament.
Is the quality of a tournament based on the benefits of the tournament or the teams in the tournament? The YMCA could host a tournament that does a lot for kids is very beneficial to local schools and other programs for kids but I don’t see it being a top ten tournament. A website like Maxpreps (and other websites that have listed the holiday invitational as a top national tournament) goes by quality of competition, caliber of players playing, and the coaches who plan to attend for scouting. I didn’t see Roy Williams at the Pizza Hut, but was there for two games during the Holiday Invitational. One thing that the highschoolot.com invitational does well, is invite teams with players that will play in Raleigh or North Carolina. One team in attendance was Strake Jesuit from Texas. They have a player comitted to Duke. A few years back, Milton was in the tournament. Milton’s star player was Ryan Harrow who played a year at NC State before transferring this year to Kentucky. The inviational is more for shock value as in teams that will dunk all over someone versus shooting well from the three point line. The Pizza Hut isn’t a national tournament either. It is all local public schools and GDS. So why should it contend a top ten national tournament?
Greensboro Day has already beaten one of the bracket winners from Raleigh when they beat Ravenscroft in the regular season at the Ravens home court….Greensboro Day could compete in Raleigh and so could Page, NEG and Smith……GDS beat Ravenscroft and GDS only stopped Page by one and NEG by 5 after trailing both Page and NEG in the second half…GDS beat Ravenscroft and Ravenscroft topped Wesleyan and WCA is supposed to be right there with the top teams in the state…..
Ravesncroft, Chapel Hill, Garner, Upper Room, United Faith…..I’d like to see how we would do versus a few more of those guys…….The Pizza Hut top Greensboro teams could hang in Raleigh….
Both of you above in comment boxes above bring up excellent points and they make for good discussion……Let’s hear more on this one….
One of the key factors to consider when it comes to the Raleigh tournament is Local, Local and Local. #1 – it is located in the midst of the basketball capital of college basketball between NC, Duke and State, #2 – you have high recruits from all 3 schools playing in the tournament, #3 – the tournament uses local schools throughout the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill market to fill in competitive teams, #4 – the primary gym is local at Broughton high school which is only minutes from downtown Raleigh, and #5 – they play in a high school gym with atmosphere and very good seating from anywhere.
The Pizza Hut tournament could improve by taking the tournament to a local like UNCG or A&T. The current court format is informal, too far away from the court of play (especially on court #1, no real noise, no atmosphere, and “cold” in many areas (especially in the back areas). The colleges are out of school, the cost would likely be less than the colisuem, and it will look and feel more like a tournament that the public could feel the energy.
The NCAA has banned high school teams from playing on their campuses. Several tournaments that were scheduled for Duke, Virginia, and other campuses have had to be moved this year because of the rule.
How could it be considered one of the best national tournaments if it is all local teams though? I am not saying the teams in the Pizza Hut aren’t good, in fact, I think GDS should have been in the tournament in Raleigh along with HPCA. Like I said before, the invitations are seemingly based on shock value. “Oh a guy that is committed to Duke is in the tournament” or “Rodney Purvis is in the tournament, he dunks on everybody” or “Oh the nummber 2 player in the sophomore class is in the tournament” The fans go to see high level players.